Gioia’s Rec:
This is one of the funniest stories I have encountered out of the Jane Austen fandom. The utter absurdity of it! The unending farce! And yet, how very in-character and utterly plausible it all is! If Elizabeth once felt that her entire family had conspired to display themselves as ridiculously as possible at the Netherfield Ball, it seems as if Mr. Darcy’s family returns the favor here, at a particular dinner at Rosings. At one point, Elizabeth is inwardly amusing herself by composing a letter to her father about the insanities which abound about her. The extremely foolish and screamingly hilarious Rosings party were depicted so vividly and realistically, that I could practically see that letter being written and hear Elizabeth’s witty tones as she narrated it all for her father. If Mel Brookes, Jane Austen and Roberto Benigni collaborated to depict a scene from Pride & Prejudice, this is what it would look like.

My Only Critique: I always try to include a bit of critique on my P&P recs in order to better add credibility to my praise. But it’s rather hard to find anything to critique about well-written short stories. It’s much easier to catch typos on long stories. Does whining about wanting more of this story count as a critique? No? Well, bother. In that case, I think I may have caught one punctuation error. Maybe.ETA: Nope, after several read-throughs, I don’t see any typos.

2 Responses to Leaving Nothing to Chance by SuzanneO

Isn’t this marvelous? Clueless Darcy is absolutely one of my favorite characterizations of our poor boy! If you haven’t tried it already, make sure you also read the short story, “To Be Mistress of Pemberley Might Be Something” by Brenna. Darcy’s dumbfounded shock at the Christmas day behavior of his wife, and even his sister, is a hoot!